Press releases

02. 06. 2020.

???source???: UNS

UNS: Pristina to ensure free flow of Serbian print media without delay

The Journalists’ Association of Serbia (UNS) protests against the ban on distribution of the Serbian press in the territory of Kosovo and Metohija, which followed after the decision of the Government in Pristina to ban the entry of goods without the label “Republic of Kosovo” and it calls on Pristina to ensure the free flow of Serbian print media without delay.

Zvezdan Mihajlovic from the company KiM Beokolp, which distributes the Serbian press in Kosovo and Metohija, confirmed to UNS that the Kosovo customs officers at the Jarinje crossing had not allowed them to deliver the newspapers from central Serbia since yesterday, referring to a government decree in Pristina and adding that the delivery for tomorrow was canceled. 

UNS points out that the ban on the Serbian print media in Kosovo and Metohija grossly violates the right to free information guaranteed by the international documents, such as the European Convention on Human Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and that their distribution must be free of all political restrictions. 

UNS emphasizes that such imposition of obstacles to distribution seriously endangers the right of the Serbian people to information in their mother tongue, especially bearing in mind the fact that no daily or weekly newspaper in the Serbian language is printed in Kosovo and Metohija. 

UNS reminds that due to the imposition of 100% tariff on the goods from central Serbia introduced by Pristina, Serbian newspapers were not on the newsstands in Kosovo and Metohija from November 2018 to April 2019.

UNS will inform the International and European Federation of Journalists, OSCE and the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatovic about this situation.